


where do we go now?

by maybankiara (juggyjones)



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, JJ Maybank-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24244630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juggyjones/pseuds/maybankiara
Summary: Her hand finds his and she squeezes it, lightly. He looks at her. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’JJ nods and he’s about to leave, when she squeezes his hand again and he gives in. His arms wrap around her torso and pull her closer and closer, until their bodies are pressed together and he buries his head in the crook of her neck, face hidden in her hair.He closes his eyes. In that moment, Kiara feels like a lighthouse to his ship lost at sea, and he lets himself feel, just for a short second. His eyes get wet but if anything escapes, he can’t tell.JJ is the first to pull back.— in which things take a significantly better turn when john b returns from the "fishing trip" with ward, and the pogues get a chance at a happier life.
Relationships: JJ Maybank & John B. Routledge & Kiara Carrera & Pope Heyward, JJ Maybank/Kiara Carrera, Sarah Cameron/John B. Routledge
Kudos: 70





	where do we go now?

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my first multichap obx fic! this chapter is essentially a prologue that shows which changes have been made to the original plot and then the next chapter is when the actual plot of the fic begins. 
> 
> this is primarily a jiara fic, but it's a slow burn, as there will be some plot that is partially continued from s1 but that's won't really be the main focus. i haven't figured out all the details yet, in any case, so we'll see where this goes. if there are any inaccuracies, just please roll with them, okay? also, the pogues are a year older than this, so they're all 17 going on 18, but that's the only actual change outside the plot.

Things figure themselves out bit by bit.

First things first, the Pogues get the gold. That bit happens quickly.

JJ, Kiara, and Pope are hanging out at the Chateau when John B storms right past, not even sparing the three of them a glance. They begin asking what’s wrong but it’s almost as if he doesn’t her them; he is too focused on whatever it is he’s doing to perceive his surroundings.

They follow him into the house. Kiara is asking what’s wrong, Pope is trying to get John B to stop, and JJ is just following him.

The only time he’s seen anyone look like this is in a mirror.

‘John B, you can’t just storm in without telling us what’s going,’ says Kiara, and Pope tells him to ‘Take a second and breathe, dude’ and Kiara asks him to ‘Just talk to us, _please_ ,’ and Pope says something else and John B is just searching for something, looking for it all over the house, not hearing a single word they’re saying.

Kiara asks JJ to do something.

He walks over to John B, suddenly realising what’s happening. His friend is hunched over his backpack, rummaging through it like a scavenger. His hair is a mess, his hands are frantic, his breathing is ragged and he is sweater than he should be in this heat.

JJ crouches next to John B, tuning out whatever it is the other two were saying. They don’t know how to deal with this.

He does.

His hand takes hold of John B’s wrist, gently, but firmly enough to make his best friend—hell, _brother—_ look at him.

JJ’s jaw tenses when his eyes meet John B’s. They’re bewildered, outraged, full of bitterness and danger that he never would’ve thought his friend possessed. His cheeks are red but it’s not the heat, and his lips are twisted in all the wrong ways.

‘It’s not here,’ he says, quietly.

‘Where is it?’

JJ swallows the lump in his throat, then shakes his head. John B asks again, and when JJ stays quiet, he tries tearing his arm out of JJ’s grip. He doesn’t succeed.

Kiara and Pope join them, each at one side of John B.

‘What do you need it for, John B?’

He just stares. It’s almost as if JJ is the only one he sees, and it makes him shiver.

John B tenses; the muscles in his jaw tighten and none of the four people in the room breathe for a few, long seconds. Then he relaxes, shoulders hunched, and his hand goes almost limp in JJ’s.

He looks at the ground and lowers his head.

‘Ward Cameron killed my dad.’

Kiara drives them to the police once they’ve all calmed down enough to stop trembling. JJ is in the backseat with John B; with nobody saying anything and no music playing, it’s eerily quiet. The only sound is the car itself and somehow, that makes things even worse.

JJ doesn’t think about Big John being dead. He thinks about the other Routledge instead, the one that’s still alive and kicking, and he wraps an arm around his shoulder.

In the rear view mirror, he sees Kiara watching them. Her eyes lock with his – he gives her a small smile, as much as he could muster.

_We’re going to be okay,_ he tries to say.

They walk John B into the police station. People stare; they are all dishevelled, and even if JJ has done up the buttons on John B’s shirt, it’s not enough to fabricate that he’s falling apart.

Peterkin sees them and she begins talking to John B sternly, until her eyes grasp the state he’s in. She looks to the rest of the Pogues for answers, but they don’t give any. John B will tell her – they’re not allowed to go inside.

The waiting room is cold and people are giving them odd looks. It’s not a new thing for JJ, but he thinks this time the weird thing might be the lack of anything weird about him, or any of his friends. They aren’t talking. They aren’t being the upbeat teenagers the police officers are used to chasing.

Kiara is sitting in the middle. Her eyes are on the hands in her lap, and she’s breathing evenly, quietly. It helps JJ to concentrate on that rhythm to keep his thoughts from spiralling. His right leg is jumping up and down, his fingers are in his mouth and his teeth are doing a number on the nails, and he’s looking all over the room.

There’s a hand on his thigh. His leg comes to a halt and he looks at Kiara. Her face is lifeless, broken, _exhausted_ – they all are. He takes the hand off his thigh and into his own, running his thumb across the back of her palm. Her eyes close, flutter, and a tear streams down each of her cheeks.

JJ wants to wipe them away, but he doesn’t. He just clenches his teeth and continues rubbing her hand, looking over to Pope, whose mind seems to be elsewhere.

_To each their own,_ JJ thinks.

Peterkin walks John B out of her office a few minutes later. They drive him to the Chateau, Kiara and Pope go to pick up some food from the Wreck, and JJ stays with John B.

‘I want to kill him,’ John B says. ‘He deserves to die.’

With Kiara and Pope away, it’s just the two of them, just the way it was at the very beginning. They’re sitting in the hot tub JJ bought because the night is starting to get cold, and he thinks of all the memories they share. Even before third grade, they knew each other, but since then, they’ve been through thick and thin together.

A life without John B isn’t a life JJ would recognise, or want.

‘You’re not going to jail.’ JJ tells him. ‘And if you do it, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.’

‘So what? My dad doesn’t get the rest of his.’

JJ splashes water in John B’s face. ‘Shut up. You’re being an idiot. This isn’t what your dad would want. You’re not killing anyone.’

John B just looks away, defeated.

Kiara and Pope show up not long after that, with fries and burgers for all. They listen as John B tells them that Ward pressed charges against him, convicting him of attempted murder, but John B’s account of events corresponded with what Mrs. Lana had apparently told the Sheriff, and that’s enough to convict Ward of the murders.

They don’t tell Sarah – nobody thinks she would believe them over her own father, and they could risk Ward finding out and potentially going after John B again.

‘We’re with you,’ Pope declares. ‘Pogues always stick up for Pogues.’

Kiara nods. ‘No matter what happens. We’ll find a way out.’

They look to JJ, but he just shrugs. ‘Ward’ll get what’s coming for him.’

Later, when the night falls, he and Kiara walk to her car. Pope stays behind to talk to John B for a bit, and the crickets are the only thing audible between the boy and the girl at the car.

Kiara leans against it, running her hands through her hair, over her face. She lets out a shaky breath and JJ sees her crumble for a second, before she pulls herself together, face hidden behind her hands.

He places a hand on her upper arm, rubbing it softly. When she looks at him, her eyes are bloodshot and face stained with soundless tears.

‘Don’t let him do anything stupid.’

‘Ha. It’s nice to not be the one who could do something stupid, for a change.’

Kiara slaps him on the shoulder, but smiles at his bad attempt at a joke. ‘Seriously, JJ. I know things are hard right now—’

‘He’ll be okay. I’ll look after him.’

‘Are you?’

‘Am I what?’

‘Okay?’ She bites her lip, the way she does, and his hand falls off her arm. ‘I know how much Big John meant to you.’

JJ leans against the car, too, and looks past Kiara, towards the ocean. ‘Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.’

Her hand finds his and she squeezes it, lightly. He looks at her. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

JJ nods and he’s about to leave, when she squeezes his hand again and he gives in. His arms wrap around her torso and pull her closer and closer, until their bodies are pressed together and he buries his head in the crook of her neck, face hidden in her hair.

He closes his eyes. In that moment, Kiara feels like a lighthouse to his ship lost at sea, and he lets himself feel, just for a short second. His eyes get wet but if anything escapes, he can’t tell.

JJ is the first to pull back. ‘Go take Pope home. He needs sleep for his big day tomorrow.’

Kiara nods and smiles, softly. JJ tries to shake away the feeling of Kiara’s body against his, the smell of her hair, her skin underneath his fingertips.

It’s forbidden and he takes the Pogue rules seriously.

When Pope joins them, JJ tells him to ‘geek it all out!’ at the interview tomorrow. He hugs him, too, and it makes him feel like maybe he won’t fall apart once it’s just John B and him.

The two leave. John B cries and cries and cries and doesn’t stop until well into the morning, so JJ doesn’t let himself fall apart, because he wouldn’t be able to handle his friend if both of them were fucked. Instead, he brings out two cans of beers, cracks them open, and they begin the day the only way JJ knows how to deal with life – intoxicated.

Sometime in the morning, they wake up on the floor of the living room, to the sound of John B’s phone ringing. JJ searches the house for it and when it’s Sarah calling, his heart sinks to his stomach.

When he walks over to John B, his friend is sitting on the porch, looking out to the sea with nothing behind his eyes,

‘I think you should get this,’ JJ says. ‘It’s Sarah.’

John B listens, for once. As soon as he presses the button, loud sobbing is coming from the phone and JJ walks away from the situation. It isn’t his to deal with.

Instead, he walks over to the hot tub and turns it on, stripping down into his underwear. He doesn’t care if anyone sees him like this – it’s nothing his friends haven’t seen already. The water in the tub heats up fast and JJ plays with the settings, letting it spray all over his face.

He hasn’t been home since the fight with his dad, but he can’t think about that right now.

On the porch, John B is still talking to Sarah. His hand is covering his face but his shoulders are shaking and JJ thinks it’s probably Ward being arrested. Maybe killed.

He’s not really sure which one he’d prefer.

The bubbles get into his shorts and he moves around, not letting his eyes leave his friend.

John B joins him minutes later, informing him that Ward has been arrested and Sarah is being held for interrogation. After that, she and what remains of her dysfunctional family—Rafe not included—are going to their house in the Bahamas until things have settled are bit.

Pope and Kiara roll in almost immediately afterwards, taking off their clothes and jumping into the hot tub. Once Pope announces the news of his scholarship, they manage to forget about Big John and Ward for a little bit, and things don’t seem so bleak.

They get the gold when the night falls. The house is up for sale, managed by Rose Cameron’s company, and it’s entirely empty. They take their time with the operation, filling up John B’s van gradually, until they’ve got it all.

They’re filthy rich, and it’s the best feeling in the world.

The gold gets hidden over several locations over the Cut and Figure Eight, places only they would know to look for. Some of it is left in the Pogues’ possession, some of it is taken for a road trip across the state where they exchange bits of it for money. When they come back, JJ pays off Barry and Pope gives him money for the damage to Topper’s boat. Sarah is still away, and she should be back in time for their senior year, but the Pogues still have fun.

John B chooses to emancipate himself from Ward Cameron’s custody and JJ does the same with Luke Mayward. With Big John’s death now official, the Chateau belongs to John B, and JJ moves in permanently and officially. John N goes back to working for Figure Eight’s richest on their boats and JJ finds himself a job at the garage.

They don’t spend the golden money, not really. They allow themselves some luxuries, occasional road trips, but they know that using it to go full Kook would only draw attention to them, and it’s the last thing they want.

So they live, happily, for a month until the summer is almost over. Sarah comes back from the Bahamas and she becomes one of them, gets her share of the gold, and they are ready to start their final year of high school before going away for college, or whatever the hell is going to happen to them.

Things are about to change, and they all feel it.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed the prologue! 
> 
> you can come hang out with me on my [tumblr](https://maybankiara.tumblr.com), or request a fic if you'd like to. i'm always looking for inspiration!


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